Lady Green escapes Wildcats

Those in the know thought it should be a close game when Haven came to town to take on the Lady Greenbacks in their home opener— and that’s just what it was. PHS was able to do just enough to hang on for the 45-42 win in a game in which the lead never felt comfortable.

Those in the know thought it should be a close game when Haven came to town to take on the Lady Greenbacks in their home opener— and that’s just what it was. PHS was able to do just enough to hang on for the 45-42 win in a game in which the lead never felt comfortable. Both teams came out slugging in the opening quarter. One of PHS head coach Emmanuel Adigun’s goals for the game was to get off to a quicker start offensively. Slow starts had hurt Lady Green in their first two contests. Pratt poured through15 points in Q1. Unfortunately, they gave up an identical number and the score was knotted at 15 after the first 8 minutes of play. “Our offense started quickly,” Coach Adigun mentioned, “but not our defense. I was unhappy with our defense at the start.” PHS responded better defensively in Q2, their pressure causing some Haven turnovers or resulting in Greenback steals. Pratt took a 21-17 lead to the halftime locker room. In the 3rd period, Jenson Maydew got untracked, scoring 7 points to spark the Pratt offense. Amy Olson hit a 3, and Bre Becker and Haylie Hook each added a bucket as the Lady Greenbacks positioned themselves for the decisive stanza by maintaining a 35-32 lead. Paige Bailey and Hook scored to start the final quarter, and Pratt enjoyed its biggest lead of the game at 39-32 with 6:00 to play. At about the 4:00 mark, Haven made one last run at the Greenbacks. They were able to cut the deficit to 41-38 with 1:46 on the clock, but would get no closer. Bre Becker converted two big 1+1s down the stretch to hold off Haven’s charge, and Pratt held on for the 45-42 victory. “The biggest positive tonight was that we came away with the “W”, Coach Adigun said. We struggled shooting some, but we were able to persevere and find a way to win.” “We’re progressing,” Adigun continued. “But we still need to find a way to play all 32 minutes on both sides of the ball.” Statistically the game was a dead heat. It’s hard to pinpoint exactly what tipped the game in Pratt’s favor, except that Lady Green hit one more 3-pointer than did Haven— which was the exact margin of victory. The teams both shot 39-40% from the floor and made 7 points from the charity stripe. Rebounding was 26-23 in favor of Haven, not a critical difference. In the final analysis, it was just a close game between two evenly matched teams, and Pratt made one more 3-pointer. Lady Green goes into the holiday break 2-1 after facing three ranked teams, so they have to feel pretty good about that. They will host Hays High on January 7th following the Christmas break. Scoring: Bailey 3, Hook 6, Garten 4, Bre Becker 12, Flemming 3, Olson 8, Maydew 9